Monthly Archives: September 2017

Jonah is a prophet we can identify with. Elijah hardly seems like a man, living in a cave and being fed by birds. Moses used a stick to bring water from a rock. Even John could have been better dressed if he had gone to a thrift store. But, none of that for Jonah. He did it his way, even choosing to be grumpy, thank you.

Jonah told God, “No, I don’t want to go. My life here is comfortable and who cares about Nineveh?” He dragged his feet all the way and reluctantly delivered the message, possibly adding, “That’s what God says. I personally don’t care if you repent or not. In fact, since I’ve traveled so far, I’d just as soon see a fireworks display.”

It did not happen, of course, because God is the God of Mercy.

There was Jonah sitting outside the city walls, waiting for the big show. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. NIV

Jonah was mad. “God, you dragged me all this way, and then you changed your mind? Why? I thought you were going to punish them. I would rather be dead than have this happen.”

God asked The Question, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

How often we humans are angry when things don’t go our way. Jonah preached God’s message of repentance, but when they did repent, he was angry with God. He sat outside the city and pouted.

God gave him an object lesson with the shade plant. The plant was obviously a gift from God since it grew to shade height in a couple of hours, and Jonah was happy. But the next day the plant died, and Jonah became angry again.

Jonah took pleasure in himself, not in God. He could not accept that God did not kill the evil people. He asked God to kill him rather than force him to live with the evil ones.

We American Christians have our lists of evil ones. Islāmic terrorists. Politicians of the ‘other’ party. LGBT. Anyone who disagrees with my understanding of Scripture.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus blessed ‘those’ people, forgave them, healed them, fed them, even went to their houses to eat.

With Jonah, we must be able to say, I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love. NIV

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The last chapter of Genesis contains many lessons for us. It opens just after the death of Jacob, called Israel. In verse 1, we read, At this Joseph threw himself on his father’s face, covering it with tears and kisses. NJB There is no doubt of the love Joseph had for his father.

Next, Joseph ordered the Egyptian doctors to embalm his father, an expensive and time-consuming process reserved for the elite in Egypt. We learn from this that the children of Israel were not slaves in the days of Joseph.

Further, the Egyptians also mourned for Israel, indicating that Jacob held a place of status in their society.

Joseph requested that Pharaoh allow him to carry Israel to Canaan for burial. When the text reads, and with him went all Pharaoh’s officials, the dignitaries of his palace and all the dignitaries of Egypt, NJB we should not overstate the case. The round trip would have been at least six months, and Pharaoh could not have run the country by himself. Read it as “Many.” None-the-less, to have Pharaoh’s household go on such a journey for a non-Egyptian is incredible.

That brings us to today’s reading. Joseph’s brothers said, ‘What if Joseph intends to treat us as enemies and pay us back for all the wrong we did him?’NJB Decades had passed since the ten older brothers sold Joseph into slavery, decades in which Joseph welcomed them, fed them, and raised them to the highest levels of society. But their sin lurked in their memories.

Today’s lesson is on forgiveness. We see the brothers making an almost desperate move to make sure they are safe from their more powerful younger brother. Before your father died, he gave us this order. NJB In their desperation, they banded together to lie. Notice the extra touch, your father.

They did not understand. They were much like the Twelve Disciples who sort of knew what Jesus was teaching, but not fully.

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The reading in Ezekiel begins with, Son of Man. That title occurs 94 times in Ezekiel, once in Psalms, and twice in Daniel. We should recognize it as Jesus’ favorite name for himself, often used in the Gospels. It is also helpful to know that several writings were done in the fourth through first centuries BC using the Son of Man frequently to refer to the coming Messiah, especially the Book of Enoch.

Babylon conquered Judah, the Southern Kingdom, about 597 BC. Ezekiel was part of the first group of Judahites forced to march north to Babylonia, along with King Jehoiachin. Ezekiel was a priest of the Temple who remained faithful to God.

Note first that his faithfulness did not save him from captivity. He suffered along with those who sinned. He lived for nine years in the Babylonian Empire before they destroyed the Temple, but God gave him a vision of that destruction which he shared with his people.

Even in hard times, Ezekiel chose to stay with God and to encourage his people to do the same. Before his captivity, he served God in the Temple, but in Babylon God gave him a new responsibility, that of a prophet.

His prophecy was hard-nosed, giving no quarter to the Judahites. “Repent or Die!” Remember that the people had been given many, many, many chances to repent in the preceding five centuries and chose to ignore those chances most of the time. It is little wonder Ezekiel was so blunt.

Contrast his message with that of John the Baptist. “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” With Jesus walking the earth, the Son of Man had arrived, the Kingdom is present. The urgency is just as great, but the tone is gentle, as was Jesus.

Buried in this passage is this Word of God: Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?ESV

This is more like the message of John and Jesus. God wants every person alive today to continue to live in His Kingdom.

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Bibles used from BibleGateway.com

CJB Complete Jewish Bible
GNT Good News Translation
Phillips JB Phillips New Testament
KJV King James Version
TLB Living Bible
MSG The Message
NIV New International Version
NLT New Living Translation
OJB Orthodox Jewish Bible
RSV Revised Standard Version
ESV English Standard Version

Neosho County, Kansas, January 6, 1886. A stranger guns down Remmy's family as he helplessly watches from a distance. The killer searches for Remmy who runs through the snow-covered farmland to a hiding hole. He avoids death the next day when the most deadly blizzard to ever strike the state covers his escape. He then learns from a friend that the sheriff believes he is the killer.
Remmy continues to run, stopping first in Fort Scott, then on to Kansas City. In the spring he joins the crew of Buffalo Bill's Wild West where he meets more friends who protect him and help him prepare for his return to search for the true killer. Along the way, Remmy wrestles with his sense of guilt for not saving his family, his fear of being the next victim, and the ultimate question: should he kill the killer?